The weirdest thing about this was that even though I walked across stage and had a fun little graduation dinner (or two), and I went right back to TA-ing and revising my last two papers on Monday. I’m technically graduating near the end of May, so it feels a little fake, or like I’m a fraud. I know I’m not, but it’s still hitting my imposter syndrome hard.
But onto the fun part. The food!
First after my graduation ceremony I went to a restaurant called Tea House, 10/10 recommend. I had a lot of people I wanted to celebrate with, so I went to Tea House with three good friends, two siblings (who had to drive back to my hometown that night and couldn’t stay for Saturday celebrations), and my mom. We got lots of tasty food, but my favorite was probably the scallion pancake and the dumplings. Unfortunately I was so hungry I forgot to take pics of this.
Saturday morning I went thrifting with a friend who wasn’t able to go to my graduation dinner on Friday night (after the ceremony). We both made some great finds! Next we got some coffee (and I got a muffin) at this cute shop in downtown Minneapolis.
Then I went to have 곰보빵 (or 소보로빵) at a family member’s house and then we went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner that Saturday. I think this was the first time it hit me that I’ll be going to South Korea, because that’s all anyone wanted to talk about. It was kind of nice to finally feel like it was real, but also a bit scary. I’m trying to ride the waves of excitement right now, and so far I think it’s going okay. Even as I write this a couple of weeks after my graduation ceremony, I’m feeling a lot more settled. It’s nice to know that at the end of the day, I know what I’ll be doing with my life (at least until 2026).
Although, I am excited for it to get closer to fall. I really want to get the email from KAEC (Korean-American Educational Commission) with all the paperwork. It means I’m that much closer to going to South Korea.
Over the last few weeks, a lot of us Korea ETAs have been getting in contact and introducing ourselves. It’s been really nice to chat about everything, and get to know everyone a bit before we meet in person for training in January. Who knows, maybe I’ll meet some other people in-person before then?
Anyway, that’s it for me. It’s been a very rambly post, but I swear as I get into blogging more it’ll get better (and more oriented for Fulbright stuff!).
Jena in Korea 